Report calls high marks in math into question

Report calls high marks in math into question

A newly released report is raising concerns that students in New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador are receiving high math marks in class while failing standardized tests.

The report, by the Halifax-based think tank Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, says the disparity is evidence of grade inflation, which describes teachers awarding higher-than-deserved marks.

Author Robert Laurie says giving students higher marks than they earn places lower expectations on them and does not encourage them to learn. Laurie says teachers must instead raise the bar and encourage students to do better, which he argues will increase provincial exam scores.

The report did not analyze scores in Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia because P.E.I. doesn’t have provincial exams while Nova Scotia has yet to release complete data.

While Laurie acknowledges that classroom grades and provincial exams measure different things, he says his results show differences beyond the “normal gap” that would be expected.